I T FOR

MANAGERS

II SEMESTER
 Information Technology for Managers

Fundamentals of computers- Evolution of Computing Machines, Input/output

devices, Microprocessors, binary number system, generation of computers and
programming languages– Algorithms and Flowcharting - Hardware and Software,
Classification of software - Operating systems, Computer Block diagram.

Networking of computers. LAN, WAN, Enterprise - wide networks, Internet

technologies, WWW and Internet uses. E- mail, Electronic payment systems,
Websites and their uses. WAP, VPN, E-commerce

Information Systems for Management Decision Support Concepts of Data,

Information and knowledge. Concepts of Database Management Systems,
Processing of data using computers. Storage and Retrieval of massive data on
computers. MIS, Phases in software Systems Life Cycle.

Application of Information systems in Use in Business Use of Information systems

in Business and their advantages. Application areas, problems Packages for
Accounting and Finance, Decision Support Systems, Knowledge Based Systems.,
EIS, Cyber crimes and cyber laws. Computer viruses

Computerization - Prospects and Problems - Information Technology as a strategic

tool for achieving competitive edge in Business and Industry. Infrastructure
Requirement, Selection of Hardware and Software, Implementation and transition
problems. Skills up gradation and re-deployment of staff as a result of
computerization. Implementing issues, opportunities, challenges, problems and
managing changes.
 COMPUTER
Computer is an electronic device that can perform a variety of operations in
accordance with a set of instructions called program. A computer is a device that
can be instructed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations
automatically via computer programming. Modern computers have the ability to
follow generalized sets of operations, called programs. These programs enable
computers to perform an extremely wide range of tasks. Computers are used
as control systems for a wide variety of industrial and consumer devices. This
includes simple special purpose devices like microwave ovens and remote controls,
factory devices such as industrial robots and computer-aided design, and also
general purpose devices like personal computers and mobile devices such
as smartphones.

Computers are generally classified by size and power as follows, although there is
considerable overlap. The differences between computer classifications generally
get smaller as technology advances, creating smaller and more powerful and cost-
friendly components.

 Personal computer: a small, single-user computer based on a microprocessor. In

addition to the microprocessor, a personal computer has a keyboard for entering
data, a monitor for displaying information, and a storage device for saving data.
 Workstation: a powerful, single-user computer. A workstation is like a personal
computer, but it has a more powerful microprocessor and a higher-quality monitor.
 Minicomputer: a multi-user computer capable of supporting from 10 to
hundreds of users simultaneously.
 Mainframe: a powerful multi-user computer capable of supporting many
hundreds or thousands of users simultaneously.
 Supercomputer: an extremely fast computer that can perform hundreds of
millions of instructions per second.
 Functioning of computer

FUNCTIONING UNITS OF A COMPUTER

1. INPUT UNITS
The input unit is formed by the input devices attached to the computer.

E.g : mouse, keyboard, scanner, etc

2. CENTRAL PROCESSING UNITS

The control unit (often called a control system or central controller) manages the
computer's various components; it reads and interprets (decodes) the program
instructions, transforming them into control signals that activate other parts of the
computer.[63] Control systems in advanced computers may change the order of
execution of some instructions to improve performance.

Central processing unit (CPU)

The control unit, ALU, and registers are collectively known as a central processing
unit (CPU). Early CPUs were composed of many separate components but since
the mid-1970s CPUs have typically been constructed on a single integrated
circuit called a microprocessor.
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
The ALU is capable of performing two classes of operations: arithmetic and logic.
The set of arithmetic operations that a particular ALU supports may be limited to
addition and subtraction, or might include multiplication,
division, trigonometry functions such as sine, cosine, etc., and square roots.

Memory
A computer's memory can be viewed as a list of cells into which numbers can be
placed or read. Each cell has a numbered "address" and can store a single number.

Computer main memory comes in two principal varieties:

 random-access memory or RAM

 read-only memory or ROM
RAM can be read and written to anytime the CPU commands it, but ROM is
preloaded with data and software that never changes, therefore the CPU can only
read from it. ROM is typically used to store the computer's initial start-up
instructions. In general, the contents of RAM are erased when the power to the
computer is turned off, but ROM retains its data indefinitely.

3. OUTPUT UNIT
The output unit is formed by the output devices attached to a computer.

The output coming from the CPU is in the form of electronic binary signals which
needs conversion in some form which can be easily understood by human beings
i.e. graphics, audio, visual.

E.g.: visual display unit(VDU)/monitor, speaker, printer.

Hardware

Computer hardware includes the physical, tangible parts or components of

a computer, such as the central processing unit, monitor, keyboard, computer data
storage, graphic card, sound card, speakers and motherboard.

Software

Computer software, or simply software, is a collection of data or computer

instructions that tell the computer how to work. This is in contrast to physical
hardware, from which the system is built and actually performs the work.
In computer science and software engineering, computer software is
all information processed by computer systems, programs and data. Computer
software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data,
such as online documentation or digital media. Computer hardware and software
require each other and neither can be realistically used on its own.

COMPUTER BLOCK DIAGRAM

1. Input: This is the process of entering data and programs in to the computer
system. You should know that computer is an electronic machine like any other
machine which takes as inputs raw data and performs some processing giving out
processed data. Therefore, the input unit takes data from us to the computer in an
organized manner for processing.
2. Storage: The process of saving data and instructions permanently is known as
storage. Data has to be fed into the system before the actual processing starts. It is
because the processing speed of Central Processing Unit (CPU) is so fast that the
data has to be provided to CPU with the same speed. Therefore the data is first
stored in the storage unit for faster access and processing. This storage unit or the
primary storage of the computer system is designed to do the above functionality.
It provides space for storing data and instructions.
The storage unit performs the following major functions:
• All data and instructions are stored here before and after processing.
• Intermediate results of processing are also stored here.
3. Processing: The task of performing operations like arithmetic and logical
operations is called processing. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) takes data and
instructions from the storage unit and makes all sorts of calculations based on the
instructions given and the type of data provided. It is then sent back to the storage
unit.
4. Output: This is the process of producing results from the data for getting
useful information. Similarly the output produced by the computer after processing
must also be kept somewhere inside the computer before being given to you in
human readable form. Again the output is also stored inside the computer for
further processing.
5. Control: The manner how instructions are executed and the above operations
are performed. Controlling of all operations like input, processing and output are
performed by control unit. It takes care of step by step processing of all operations
inside the computer.
FUNCTIONAL UNITS
In order to carry out the operations mentioned in the previous section the computer
allocates the task between its various functional units. The computer system is
divided into three separate units for its operation. They are
Arithmetic Logical Unit (ALU)
Logical Unit: After you enter data through the input device it is stored in
the primary storage unit. The actual processing of the data and instruction are
performed by Arithmetic Logical Unit. The major operations performed by the
ALU are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logic and comparison. Data
is transferred to ALU from storage unit when required. After processing the output
is returned back to storage unit for further processing or getting stored.
Control Unit (CU)
The next component of computer is the Control Unit, which acts like the
supervisor seeing that things are done in proper fashion. Control Unit is
responsible for coordinating various operations using time signal. The control unit
determines the sequence in which computer programs and instructions are
executed. Things like processing of programs stored in the main memory,
interpretation of the instructions and issuing of signals for other units of the
computer to execute them. It also acts as a switch board operator when several
users access the computer simultaneously. Thereby it coordinates the activities of
computer’s peripheral equipment as they perform the input and output.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The ALU and the CU of a computer system are jointly known as the central
processing unit. You may call CPU as the brain of any computer system. It is just
like brain that takes all major decisions, makes all sorts of calculations and directs
different parts of the computer functions by activating and controlling the
operations.

INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES
Input devices
(a)Keyboard

It is a text base input device that allows the user to input alphabets, numbers and
other characters. It consists of a set of keys mounted on a board.
(b) Mouse
The mouse is a small device used to point to a particular place on the screen and
select in order to perform one or more actions. It can be used to select menu
commands, size windows, start programs etc. The most conventional kind of
mouse has two buttons on top: the left one being used most frequently.

(c) Joystick
The joystick is a vertical stick which moves the graphic cursor in a direction the
stick is moved. It typically has a button on top that is used to select the option
pointed by the cursor. Joystick is used as an input device primarily used with video
games, training simulators and controlling robots.

(d)Scanner
Scanner is an input device used for direct data entry from the source document into
the computer system. It converts the document image into digital form so that it
can be fed into the computer. Capturing information like this reduces the
possibility of errors typically experienced during large data entry.
(e) Bar codes
A bar code is a set of lines of different thicknesses that represent a number. Bar
Code Readers are used to input data from bar codes. Most products in shops have
bar codes on them. Bar code readers work by shining a beam of light on the lines
that make up the bar code and detecting the amount of light that is reflected back.

(f) Light Pen

It is a pen shaped device used to select objects on a display screen. It is quite like
the mouse (in its functionality) but uses a light pen to move the pointer and select
any object on the screen by pointing to the object. Users of Computer Aided
Design (CAD) applications commonly use the light pens to directly draw on
screen.
(g) Touch Screen
It allows the user to operate/make selections by simply touching the display screen.
Common examples of touch screen include information kiosks, and bank ATMs.

(h) The Speech Input Device

The “Microphones - Speech Recognition” is a speech Input device. To operate it
we require using a microphone to talk to the computer. Also we need to add a
sound card to the computer. The Sound card digitizes audio input into 0/1s .A
speech recognition program can process the input and convert it into machine-
recognized commands or input.
Output Devices

(a) Monitor
Monitor is an output device that resembles the television screen and uses a Cathode
Ray Tube (CRT) to display information. The monitor is associated with a keyboard
for manual input of characters and displays the information as it is keyed in. It also
displays the program or application output. Like the television, monitors are also
available in different sizes.
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
LCD was introduced in the 1970s and is now applied to display terminals also. Its
advantages like low energy consumption, smaller and lighter have paved its way
for usage in portable computers (laptops).

(b) Printer
Printers are used to produce paper (commonly known as hardcopy) output. Based
on the technology used, they can be classified as Impact or Non-impact printers.

Impact printers use the typewriting printing mechanism wherein a hammer strikes
the paper through a ribbon in order to produce output. Dot-matrix and Character
printers fall under this category.
Non-impact printers do not touch the paper while printing. They use chemical, heat
or electrical signals to etch the symbols on paper. Inkjet, DeskJet, Laser, Thermal
printers fall under this category of printers.

When we talk about printers we refer to two basic qualities associated with
printers: resolution, and speed.
Print resolution is measured in terms of number of dots per inch (dpi).
Print speed is measured in terms of number of characters printed in a unit of time
and is represented as characters-per-second (cps), lines-per-minute (lpm), or pages-
per-minute (ppm).
(c) Plotter
Plotters are used to print graphical output on paper. It interprets computer
commands and makes line drawings on paper using multicolored automated pens.
It is capable of producing graphs, drawings, charts, maps etc.
Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) applications like CAD (Computer Aided
Design) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) are typical usage areas for
plotters.

(e) Audio Output:

utput: Sound Cards and Speakers
The Audio output is the ability of the computer to output sound. Two components
are needed: Sound card – Plays contents of digitized recordings, Speakers –
Attached to sound card.
 BINARY CODE

A binary code represents text, computer processor instructions, or any

other data using a two-symbol system. The two-symbol system used is
often "0" and "1" from the binary number system. The binary code
assigns a pattern of binary digits, also known as bits, to each character,
instruction, etc.
For example, a binary string of eight bits can represent any of 256
possible values and can, therefore, represent a wide variety of different
items.

In computing and telecommunications, binary codes are used for various

methods of encoding data, such as character strings, into bit strings.
Those methods may use fixed-width or variable-width strings. In a
fixed-width binary code, each letter, digit, or other character is
represented by a bit string of the same length; that bit string, interpreted
as a binary number, is usually displayed in code tables in octal, decimal
or hexadecimal notation.

There are many character sets and many character encodings for them.
A bit string, interpreted as a binary number, can be translated into a
decimal number.
For example, the lower case a, if represented by the bit string 01100001
(as it is in the standard ASCII code), can also be represented as the
decimal number "97".

Most modern computers use binary encoding for instructions and data.
CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs represent sound and video digitally in
binary form.
Telephone calls are carried digitally on long-distance and mobile phone
networks using pulse-code modulation, and on voice over IP networks.
 MICROPROCESSOR
A microprocessor is a computer processor that incorporates the functions of a
central processing unit on a single integrated circuit (IC), or at most a few
integrated circuits. The microprocessor is a
multipurpose, clock driven, register based, digital integrated circuit that
accepts binary data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in
its memory and provides results as output. Microprocessors contain
both combinational logic and sequential digital logic. Microprocessors operate on
numbers and symbols represented in the binary number system.
The integration of a whole CPU onto a single or a few integrated circuits greatly
reduced the cost of processing power. Integrated circuit processors are produced in
large numbers by highly automated processes, resulting in a low unit price. Single-
chip processors increase reliability because there are many fewer electrical
connections that could fail. As microprocessor designs improve, the cost of
manufacturing a chip (with smaller components built on a semiconductor chip the
same size) generally stays the same according to Rock's law.
Before microprocessors, small computers had been built using racks of circuit
boards with many medium- and small-scale integrated circuits. Microprocessors
combined this into one or a few large-scale ICs. Continued increases in
microprocessor capacity have since rendered other forms of computers almost
completely obsolete (see history of computing hardware), with one or more
microprocessors used in everything from the smallest embedded
systems and handheld devices to the largest mainframes and supercomputers.

INSHORT:
Microprocessor is a controlling unit of a micro-computer, fabricated on a small
chip capable of performing ALU (Arithmetic Logical Unit) operations and
communicating with the other devices connected to it.
Microprocessor consists of an ALU, register array, and a control unit. ALU
performs arithmetical and logical operations on the data received from the
memory or an input device. Register array consists of registers identified by letters
like B, C, D, E, H, L and accumulator. The control unit controls the flow of data
and instructions within the computer.
Block Diagram of a Basic Microcomputer

How does a microprocessor work?

The microprocessor follows a sequence: Fetch, Decode, and then Execute.
Initially, the instructions are stored in the memory in a sequential order. The
microprocessor fetches those instructions from the memory, then decodes it and
executes those instructions
tructions till STOP instruction is reached. Later, it sends the
result in binary to the output port. Between these processes, the register stores the
temporarily data and ALU performs the computing functions.
List of Terms Used in a Microprocessor
Here is a list of some of the frequently used terms in a microprocessor −
 Instruction Set − It is the set of instructions that the microprocessor can
understand.
 Bandwidth − It is the number of bits processed in a single instruction.
  Clock Speed − It determines the number of operations per second the
processor can perform. It is expressed in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz
(GHz).It is also known as Clock Rate.
 Word Length − It depends upon the width of internal data bus, registers,
ALU, etc. An 8-bit microprocessor can process 8-bit data at a time. The
word length ranges from 4 bits to 64 bits depending upon the type of the
microcomputer.
 Data Types − The microprocessor has multiple data type formats like
binary, BCD, ASCII, signed and unsigned numbers.
Special-purpose designs
A microprocessor is a general-purpose entity. Several specialized processing
devices have followed:

 A digital signal processor (DSP) is specialized for signal processing.

 Graphics processing units (GPUs) are processors designed primarily for real-
time rendering of images.
 Other specialized units exist for video processing and machine vision.
(See: Hardware acceleration.)
 Microcontrollers integrate a microprocessor with peripheral devices in
embedded systems.
 Systems on chip (SoCs) often integrate one or more microprocessor or
microcontroller cores.
Features of a microprocessor
Here is a list of some of the most prominent features of any microprocessor −
 Cost-effective − The microprocessor chips are available at low prices and
results its low cost.
 Size − The microprocessor is of small size chip, hence is portable.
 Low Power Consumption − Microprocessors are manufactured by using
metaloxide semiconductor technology, which has low power consumption.
 Versatility − The microprocessors are versatile as we can use the same chip
in a number of applications by configuring the software program.
 Reliability − The failure rate of an IC in microprocessors is very low, hence
it is reliable.
 GENERATION OF COMPUTER
In the late 1960s till the early 1970s, there was much talk about "generations" of
computer hardware — usually "three generations".

1. First generation: Thermionic vacuum tubes. Mid - 1940s

IBM pioneered the arrangement of vacuum tubes in pluggable modules. The IBM
650 was a first-generation computer.

2. Second generation: Transistors. 1956.

The era of miniaturization begins. Transistors are much smaller than vacuum tubes,
draw less power, and generate less heat. Discrete transistors are soldered to circuit
boards, with interconnections accomplished by stencil-screened conductive
patterns on the reverse History side. The IBM 7090 was a second-generation
computer.

3. Third generation: Integrated circuits (silicon chips containing multiple

transistors).
1964. A pioneering example is the ACPX module used in the IBM 360/91, which,
by stacking layers of silicon over a ceramic substrate, accommodated over 20
transistors per chip; the chips could be packed together onto a circuit board to
achieve unheard-of logic densities. The IBM 360/91 was a hybrid second- and
third-generation computer.

 Omitted from this taxonomy is the "zeroth-generation" computer based on

metal gears (such as the IBM 407) or mechanical relays (such as the Mark I),
and the post-third generation computers based on Very Large Scale Integrated
(VLSI) circuits.

There was also a parallel set of generations for software:

1. First generation: Machine language.

2. Second generation: Low-level programming languages such as Assembly
language.
3. Third generation: Structured high-level programming languages such as C,
COBOL and FORTRAN.
4. Fourth generation: Domain-specific high-level programming languages such
as SQL (for database access) and TeX (for text formatting) throughout these
multiple generations up to the 1990s, Japan had largely been a follower in the
computing arena, building computers following U.S. and British leads.

 The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) decided to attempt

to break out of this follow-the-leader pattern, and in the mid-1970s started
looking, on a small scale, into the future of computing. They asked the Japan
Information Processing Development Center (JIPDEC) to indicate a number
of future directions and in 1979 offered a three-year contract to carry out
more in-depth studies along with industry and academia. It was during this
period that the term "fifth-generation computer" started to be used.
 INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
Meaning of Information Technology

Information Technology consists of two words – Information and Technology.

Information refers to any communication or representation of knowledge such as
facts, data or opinions in any medium or for including textual, numerical, graphic,
narrative or audio visual forms. Technology is the practical knowledge or the
science of application of knowledge to practical. Thus Information Technology is
any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in
the acquisition, storage manipulation, management transmission or reception of
data or information. IT refers to anything related to computing technology such as
networking, hardware, software, the internet or the people that work with these
technologies.

Definition of Information Technology

Information Technology can be defined as the technology involving the

development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and networks
for the processing and distribution of data. According to UNESCO Information
Technology is a scientific, technological and engineering discipline and
management technique used in handing the information. Its application and
association with social, economic and cultural matters. IT is a field of engineering
involving computer based hardware and software systems , and communication
systems, to enable the acquisition, representation, storage, transmission, and use of
information. The hardware and software of computing and communication form
the basic too of technology. The web browsers, the operating systems, ERP’s and
special purpose applications are the software which is used in Information
Technology.

Characteristics of Information Technology

1. Acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, transmission o reception of

data or information
2. Real time access to information
3. Easy availability of updated data
4. Connecting geographically dispersed regions
5. Wider range of communication media

IMPORTANCE OF IT

1. Information Technology is useful in ensuring the smooth functioning of all the

departments in accompany such as the human resource department, finance
department, manufacturing department and in security related purposes.
2. The companies are able to avoid any sort of errors or mistakes in the proper
functioning of the tools used for designing and manufacturing purposes.
3. Due to the development of the information technology sector, the companies are
being able to keep themselves aware of the changes in the global markets.
4. IT plays an important role in easily solving the mathematical problems and in
the project management system.
5. It has a great use in the automated production of sensitive information,
automated up-gradation of the important business processes and the automated
streamlining of the various business processes.
6. It has also played an important role in the areas of communication and
automated administration of entire systems.

APPLICATIONS OF IT IN BUSINESS AND

MANAGEMENT
IT has become a vital and integral part of every business plan. From multi-national
corporations who maintain mainframe systems and databases to small businesses
that own a single computer, IT plays a role. The important applications of
information technology in the field of business and management are given as
follows.
1.Product Development
Information technology can speed up the time it takes new products to reach the
market. Companies can now understand the requirements of consumers by
collecting marketing intelligence from proprietary databases, customers and sales
representatives. IT helps businesses respond quickly to changing customer
requirements.
2. Process Improvement
Process improvement is another important IT application in business. Enterprise
resource planning system allow managers to review sales, costs and other
operating figures on one integrated software platform, usually in real time. An ERP
system can replace a number of traditional systems for finance, human resources
and other functional areas.
3. Communication
At present, email is the principal means of communication between employees,
suppliers and customers. Communication by email is faster and costs less than
sending a paper letter in the mail. IT allows organizing email file folders by client
or by type of communication, such as orders or billing.
4. Marketing
One of the main applications of IT is in the area of marketing. Both large and small
businesses can now play on a same level and status on the internet. They can have
a web site, take orders, buy goods, sell excess or even operate some businesses
entirely online.
5. Inventory Management
IT helps business to manage inventory effectively. Organizations are now able to
maintain enough stock to meet demand without investing in more than they
require. Inventory management systems track the quantity of each item a company
maintains, placing an order of additional stock when the quantities fall below a
pre-determined reorder level.
6. Customer Relationship Management
Companies are using IT to design and manage customer relationships. Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) systems capture every interaction a company
has with a customer. The entire interaction is stored in the CRM system, ready to
be recalled if the customer calls again.
7. Data Management
Through IT, companies are able to store and maintain a tremendous amount of
historical data economically and employees benefit from immediate access to the
documents they need.

8. Management Information Systems (MIS)

Storing data is only beneficial if that data can be used effectively. MIS enable
companies to track sales data, expenses and productivity levels. The information
can be used to track profitability over time, maximize return on investment and
identify the areas of improvement.
9. Globalization
IT is at the core of operating models essential for globalization, such as
telecommuting and outsourcing. A company can outsource most of its noncore
functions, such as human resources and finances, to offshore companies and use
network technologies to stay in contact with its overseas employees, customers and
suppliers.
10. Competitive Advantage
Cost savings, rapid product development and process improvements help
companies gain and maintain a competitive advantage in the market place.
Companies can use rapid prototyping, software simulations and other IT based
systems to bring a product to market cost effectively and quickly.
11. Cost Efficiencies
Although the initial IT implementation costs can be substantial, that resulting long
term cost savings are usually worth the investment. IT allows companies to reduce
transaction and implementation costs.
 COMPUTER NETWORK
A computer network is a digital telecommunications network which allows nodes
to share resources. In computer networks, computing devices exchange data with
each other using connections (data links) between nodes. These data links are
established over cable media such as wires or optic cables, or wireless media such
as Wi-Fi.

Network computer devices that originate, route and terminate the data are called
network nodes. Nodes are generally identified by network addresses, and can
include hosts such as personal computers, phones, and servers, as well as
networking hardware such as routers and switches.

Two such devices can be said to be networked together when one device is able to
exchange information with the other device, whether or not they have a direct
connection to each other. In most cases, application-specific communications
protocols are layered (i.e. carried as payload) over other more general
communications protocols. This formidable collection of information technology
requires skilled network management to keep it all running reliably.

Computer networks support an enormous number of applications and services such

as access to the World Wide Web, digital video, digital audio, shared use of
application and storage servers, printers, and fax machines, and use of email and
instant messaging applications as well as many others. Computer networks differ
in the transmission medium used to carry their signals, communications protocols
to organize network traffic, the network's size, topology, traffic control mechanism
and organizational intent. The best-known computer network is the Internet.

Network packet

Computer communication links that do not support packets, such as traditional

point-to- point telecommunication links, simply transmit data as a bit stream.
However, the overwhelming majority of computer networks carry their data in
packets.
A network packet is a formatted unit of data (a list of bits or bytes, usually a few
tens of bytes to a few kilobytes long) carried by a packet-switched network.
Packets are sent through the network to their destination. Once the packets arrive
they are reassembled into their original message.
Packets consist of two kinds of data: control information, and user data (payload).

The control information provides data the network needs to deliver the user data,
for example: source and destination network addresses, error detection codes, and
sequencing information. Typically, control information is found in packet headers
and trailers, with payload data in between.
With packets, the bandwidth of the transmission medium can be better shared
among users than if the network were circuit switched. When one user is not
sending packets, the link can be filled with packets from other users, and so the
cost can be shared, with relatively little interference, provided the link isn't
overused. Often the route a packet needs to take through a network is not
immediately available. In that case the packet is queued and waits until a link is
free.

Network topology
Common network topologies diagrams usually denote network links and network
nodes. Network topology is the layout or organizational hierarchy of
interconnected nodes of a computer network. Different network topologies can
affect throughput, but reliability is often more critical. With many technologies,
such as bus networks, a single failure can cause the network to fail entirely. In
general the more interconnections there are, the more robust the network is; but the
more expensive it is to install.
Common layouts are:
 Bus network:
All nodes are connected to a common medium along this medium. This was the
layout used in the original Ethernet, called 10BASE5 and
10BASE2. This is still a common topology on the data link layer, although modern
physical layer variants use point-to-point links instead.
 Star network:
All nodes are connected to a special central node. This is the typical layout found
in a Wireless LAN, where each wireless client connects to the central Wireless
access point.

 Ring network:
Each node is connected to its left and right neighbor node, such that all nodes are
connected and that each node can reach each other node by traversing nodes left-
or rightwards. The Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) made use of such a
topology.

 Fully connected network:

Each node is connected to every other node in the network.
 Mesh network:
Each node is connected to an arbitrary number of neighbors in such a way that
there is at least one traversal from any node to any other.

 Tree network:
Nodes are arranged hierarchically.
Note that the physical layout of the nodes in a network may not necessarily reflect
the network topology.
As an example, with FDDI, the network topology is a ring (actually two counter-
rotating rings), but the physical topology is often a star, because all neighboring
connections can be routed via a central physical location.

Wired technologies

Fiber optic cables are used to transmit light from one node to another.

The following classes of wired technologies are used in computer networking.

 Coaxial cable is widely used for cable television systems, office buildings, and
other work-sites for local area networks. Transmission speed ranges from 200
million bits per second to more than 500 million bits per second. ITU-T G.hn
technology uses existing home wiring (coaxial cable, phone lines and power
lines) to create a high-speed local area network. computer/network node to
another.
 Twisted pair cabling is used for wired Ethernet and other standards. It
typically consists of 4 pairs of copper cabling that can be utilized for both voice
and data transmission. The use of two wires twisted together helps to reduce
crosstalk and electromagnetic induction. The transmission speed ranges from 2
Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s.
Twisted pair cabling comes in two forms: unshielded twisted pair (UTP) and
shielded twisted-pair (STP). Each form comes in several category ratings,
designed for use in various scenarios.
 An optical fiber is a glass fiber. It carries pulses of light that represent data.
Some advantages of optical fibers over metal wires are very low transmission
loss and immunity to electrical interference. Optical fibers can simultaneously
carry multiple streams of data on different wavelengths of light, which greatly
increases the rate that data can be sent to up to trillions of bits per second. Optic
fibers can be used for long runs of cable carrying very high data rates, and are
used for undersea cables to interconnect continents. There are two basic types
of fiber optics, single-mode optical fiber (SMF) and multi-mode optical fiber
(MMF).
Single mode fiber has the advantage of being able to sustain a coherent signal
for dozens or even a hundred kilometers.
 Multimode fiber is cheaper to terminate but is limited to a few hundred or even
only a few dozens of meters, depending on the data rate and cable grade.

Wireless technologies

 Terrestrial microwave – Terrestrial microwave communication uses

Earthbased transmitters and receivers resembling satellite dishes. Terrestrial
microwaves are in the low gigahertz range, which limits all communications to
line-of-sight. Relay stations are spaced approximately 48 km (30 mi) apart.
 Communications satellites – Satellites communicate via microwave radio
waves, which are not deflected by the Earth's atmosphere. The satellites are
stationed in space, typically in geosynchronous orbit 35,400 km (22,000 mi)
above the equator. These Earth-orbiting systems are capable of receiving and
relaying voice, data, and TV signals.
 Cellular and PCS systems use several radio communications technologies.
The systems divide the region covered into multiple geographic areas. Each
area has a low-power transmitter or radio relay antenna device to relay calls
from one area to the next area.
 Radio and spread spectrum technologies – Wireless local area networks use a
high-frequency radio technology similar to digital cellular and a low-frequency
radio technology. Wireless LANs use spread spectrum technology to enable
communication between multiple devices in a limited area. IEEE 802.11
defines a common flavor of open-standards wireless radiowave technology
known as Wi-Fi.
 Free-space optical communication uses visible or invisible light for
communications. In most cases, line-of sight propagation is used, which limits
the physical positioning of communicating devices.

Network nodes
Apart from any physical transmission media there may be, networks comprise
additional basic system building blocks, such as network interface controllers
(NICs), repeaters, hubs, bridges, switches, routers, modems, and firewalls. Any
particular piece of equipment will frequently contain multiple building blocks and
perform multiple functions.

Repeaters and hubs

A repeater is an electronic device that receives a network signal, cleans it of
unnecessary noise and regenerates it. The signal is retransmitted at a higher power
level, or to the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer
distances without degradation. In most twisted pair Ethernet configurations,
repeaters are required for cable that runs longer than 100 meters. With fiber optics,
repeaters can be tens or even hundreds of kilometers apart.

Bridges
A network bridge connects and filters traffic between two network segments at the
data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model to form a single network. This breaks the
network's collision domain but maintains a unified broadcast domain.
Network segmentation breaks down a large, congested network into an aggregation
of smaller, more efficient networks.
Bridges come in three basic types:
 Local bridges: Directly connect LANs
 Remote bridges: Can be used to create a wide area network (WAN) link
between LANs. Remote bridges, where the connecting link is slower than
the end networks, largely have been replaced with routers.
 Wireless bridges: Can be used to join LANs or connect remote devices to
LANs.

Switches

A network switch is a device that forwards and filters OSI layer 2 datagrams
(frames) between ports based on the destination MAC address in each frame.[18]
A switch is distinct from a hub in that it only forwards the frames to the physical
ports involved in the communication rather than all ports connected. It can be
thought of as a multiport bridge. It learns to associate physical ports to MAC
addresses by examining the source addresses of received frames. If an unknown
destination is targeted, the switch broadcasts to all ports but the source.

Switches normally have numerous ports, facilitating a star topology for dev
devices, and cascading additional switches.

Routers

A router is an internetworking device that forwards packets between networks by

processing the routing information included in the packet The routing information
is often processed in conjunction with the routing table (or forwarding table). A
router uses its routing table to determine where to forward packets. A destination
in a routing table can include a "null" interface, also known as the "black hole"
interface because data can go into it, however, no further processing is done for
said data, i.e. the packets are dropped.

Modems
Modems (MOdulator-DEModulator) are used to connect network nodes via wire
not originally designed for digital network traffic, or for wireless. To do this one or
more carrier signals are modulated by the digital signal to produce an analog signal
that can be tailored to give the required properties for transmission. Modems are
commonly used for telephone lines, using a Digital Subscriber Line technology.

Firewalls
A firewall is a network device for controlling network security and access rules.
Firewalls are typically configured to reject access requests from unrecognized
sources while allowing actions from recognized ones. The vital role firewalls play
in network security grows in parallel with the constant increase in cyber attacks.

Geographic scale
Personal area network (PAN)
A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication
among computer and different information technological devices close to one
person. Some examples of devices that are used in a PAN are personal computers,
printers, fax machines, telephones, PDAs, scanners, and even video game consoles.
A PAN may include wired and wireless devices. The reach of a PAN typically
extends to 10 meters. A wired PAN is usually constructed with USB and FireWire
connections while technologies such as Bluetooth and infrared communication
typically form a wireless PAN.

Local area network (LAN)

A local area network (LAN) is a network that connects computers and devices in a
limited geographical area such as a home, school, office building, or closely
positioned group of buildings. Each computer or device on the network is a node.
Wired LANs are most likely based on Ethernet technology. Newer standards such
as ITU-T G.hn also provide a way to create a wired LAN using existing wiring,
such as coaxial cables, telephone lines, and power lines.

The defining characteristics of a LAN, in contrast to a wide area network (WAN),

include higher data transfer rates, limited geographic range, and lack of reliance on
leased lines to provide connectivity. Current Ethernet or other IEEE 802.3 LAN
technologies operate at data transfer rates up to 100 Gbit/s, standardized by IEEE
in 2010. Currently, 400 Gbit/s Ethernet is being developed.

A LAN can be connected to a WAN using a router.

Backbone network

Metropolitan area network (MAN)

A Metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network that usually
spans a city or a large campus.

Wide area network (WAN)

A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a large geographic
area such as a city, country, or spans even intercontinental distances. A WAN uses
a communications channel that combines many types of media such as telephone
lines, cables, and air waves. A WAN often makes use of transmission facilities
provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN technologies
generally function at the lower three layers of the OSI reference model: the
physical layer, the data link layer, and the network layer.

Virtual private network

A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public
network, and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public
networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private
network.
Applications running on a computing device, e.g. a laptop, desktop, smartphone,
across a VPN may therefore benefit from the functionality, security, and
management of the private network. Encryption is a common though not an
inherent part of a VPN connection.
VPN technology was developed to allow remote users and branch offices to access
corporate applications and resources. To ensure security, the private network
connection is established using an encrypted layered tunneling protocol and VPN
users use authentication methods, including passwords or certificates, to gain
access to the VPN. In other applications, Internet users may secure their
transactions with a VPN, to circumvent geo-restrictions and censorship, or to
connect to proxy servers to protect personal identity and location to stay
anonymous on the Internet. However, some websites block access to known VPN
technology to prevent the circumvention of their geo-restrictions, and many VPN
providers have been developing strategies to get around these roadblocks.

A VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the

use of dedicated circuits or with tunneling protocols over existing networks. A
VPN available from the public Internet can provide some of the benefits of a wide
area network (WAN). From a user perspective, the resources available within the
private network can be accessed remotely. Early data networks allowed VPN-style
connections to remote sites through dial-up modem or through leased.

Types
Early data networks allowed VPN-style connections to
remote sites through dial-up modem or through leased line connections utilizing
X.25, Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) virtual circuits,
provided through networks owned and operated by telecommunication carriers.
These networks are not considered true VPNs because they passively secure the
data being transmitted by the creation of logical data streams. They have been
replaced by VPNs based on IP and IP/Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS)
Networks, due to significant cost-reductions and increased bandwidth provided by
new technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL) and fiber-optic networks.
VPNs can be characterized as host-to-network or remote access by connecting a
single computer to a network, or as site-to-site for connecting two networks. In a
corporate setting, remote-access VPNs allow employees to access the company's
intranet from outside the office. Site-to-site VPNs allow collaborators in
geographically disparate offices to share the same virtual network. A VPN can also
be used to interconnect two similar networks over a dissimilar intermediate
network; for example, two IPv6 networks over an IPv4 network.

VPN systems may be classified by:

 the tunneling protocol used to tunnel the traffic
 the tunnel's termination point location, e.g., on the customer edge or
network-provider edge
 the type of topology of connections, such as site-to-site or network-to-
network
 the levels of security provided
 the OSI layer they present to the connecting network, such as Layer 2
circuits or Layer 3 network connectivity
 the number of simultaneous connections

The VPN security model provides:
 Confidentiality such that even if the network traffic is sniffed at the packet
level (see network sniffer and deep packet inspection), an attacker would see
only encrypted data.
 sender authentication to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the
VPN
 message integrity to detect any instances of tampering with transmitted
messages.

Wireless Application Protocol

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a technical standard for accessing

information over a mobile wireless network.
A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that
uses the protocol. Introduced with much hype in 1999,[1] WAP achieved some
popularity in the early 2000s, but by the 2010s it had been largely superseded by
more modern standards.
Most modern handset internet browsers now fully support HTML, so they do not
need to use WAP markup for web page compatibility, and therefore, most are no
longer able to render and display pages written in WML, WAP's markup language.

Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited

opportunities to offer interactive data services, but needed interactivity to support
Internet and Web applications such as email, stock prices, news and sports
headlines. The Japanese i-mode system offered another major competing wireless
data protocol.
 INTERNET
Internet is the world’s largest computer network. The word internet was coined
from the word “Inter connection and Network’’. The internet is a network or more
precisely “Inter-network” of hundreds of connecting networks made up of different
types of computers all the world that can share messages and information with one
another. It is described as the network of networks.

HISTORY OF INTERNET
The history of the internet begins with the development of electronic computers in
the 1950’s.Initial concepts of packet networking originated in several computer
science laboratories in the United States, Great Britain and France. The US
Department of defense awarded contracts as early as the 1960’s for packet network
systems, including the development of the ARPANET (which would become the
first network to use the Internet Protocol).
The internet is not a new phenomenon. In 1973, the US Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a research program to investigate
techniques an d technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds. The
objective was to develop communication protocols which would allow networked
computers to communicate transparently across multiple, linked packet networks.
This was called the internetting project and the system of networks which emerged
from the research was known as the “Internet”.
Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981when the National Science
Foundation (NSF) funded the Computer Science Network(CSNET).In 1982,the
Internet Protocol Suite(TCP/IP) was introduced as the standard networking
protocol on the ARPANET. Electronic mail over ARPANET was a great success.
This has given birth to the INTERNET. In its early days, the internet was not used
for commercial purposes mainly because it was funded through research grants
from the NSF and other government agencies. It was mainly used for technical,
academic and scientific research. The main turning point in the history of internet
was in 1991, when NSF removed restrictions and allowed commercial traffic into
internet.
In April 1995,the US Government further relaxed control of the internet to
independent government to independent governing bodies, which taken away the
restrictions for Internet access. Ever since commercial use of internet was allowed,
the growth in subscribers and traffic has been phenomenal.
According to Internet Society estimates, the internet now has 30 million users on
10 million computers connected to over 24000 networks in over 100 countries. It is
often said that there has been no other technology or innovation in the modern.
INTERNET PROTOCOLS

A communication protocol allows different kinds of computers using different

operating systems to communicate with one another. It is highly essential because
internet is not made up of any single type of computer system. Instead there are
great diversities found in the computers used on the internet. The user connected
on any network on the internet can communicate with others or software located on
any other network connected to the internet using common set of protocols. An
Internet Protocol is a set of standards or rules for exchanging information between
computer systems in a network. The most commonly used protocols are:

1. Transmision Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

2. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
3. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
4. Telnet
5. Gopher
6. Wide Area Information Service (WAIS)

1. Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

TCP/IP is actually a collection of protocols that govern the way travel from one
computer to another computer across networks. A user connected on any network
on the internet can communicate with people or software located on any other
network connected to the internet using this common set of protocols, the TCP/IP.
Thus any computer that speaks the language TCP/IP can talk to any internet
machine. Simply this is the set of standards (Protocols) for data transmission and
error correction that allows the transfer of data from one computer to another
computer over internet.

2. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

FTP is the protocol or set of rules, which enables files to be transferred between
computers. It is a powerful tool which allows files to be transferred from one
computer to another computer.
FTP works on the client / server principle. A client program enables the user to
interact with a server in order to access information and services on the server
computer. Files that can be transferred are stored on Server computers. A client can
access these files only through a client application program. This program helps a
client computer to locate required file to be transferred and starts the process of
transfer. To access other computer, user has to normally supply a login name and
password and after that he can access the computers file dictionary system and can
upload (send) and download (receive) files.

3. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

HTTP is an internet standard or set of rules that allows the exchange of
information on the World Wide Web (WWW). Hyper Text is a method of
preparing and publishing text ideally suited to the computer, in which users can
select their own text. To prepare hyper text, the whole material should be divided
into small segments such as single pages of text. These small segments are called
nodes.
Then hyper links (also called anchors) are embedded in the text .When the user
clicks on a hyper link, the hyper text software displays a different node. The
process of navigating among the nodes linked in this way is called ‘browsing’. a
collection of nodes that are interconnected by hyper links is called a Web.

4. Telnet
Telnet is an internet protocol or set of rules that enables internet users to connect to
another computer linked to the internet. This process is also called as remote login.
The user’s computer is referred to as the local computer and the computer being
connected to is referred to as remote or host computer. Once access is established
between local and host computer, local computer can give commands so that they
are executed in the host computer.

5. Gopher
Gopher is a protocol linked to the internet to search, retrieve and display
documents from remote sites on the internet. It is a menu based program that helps
the user to find files, programs, definitions and other topics that the user specifies.
Gopher protocol allows the user to free from the troubles of specifying the details
of host, directory and file names.

6. Wide Area Information Service (WAIS)

WAIS stands for Wide Area Information Service. WAIS is a internet search tool
and describes as a protocol for computer to computer information retrieval. It is a
program that permits the user to search information worldwide based on a service
of key words. WAIS has the capacity of simultaneously searching in more than one
database.
INTERNET ADDRESSING
Internet address is used to identify people computers and information related with
internet.
IP ADDRESS
IP Address is required to communicate with other computers in the net. One must
know the address of the computer to transfer files, send e-mail messages etc. An IP
address consists of four sections separated by periods. Each section contains a
number ranging from 0 to 255.
Example: 128.43.7.12.

DOMAIN NAME
A domain name is a name used to identify and locate computers connected to the
Internet. No two organizations can have the same domain name.
A domain name always contains two or more components separated by periods
called ‘dots’.
Eg: Microsoft.com, Indiacapital.com.
The last portion of the domain name is the top level domain name and describes
the type of organization holding that name.

The important types of top level domain names are the following:
.com - Commercial institutions
.edu- Educational institutions
.org - Miscellaneous organizations not included above.
Country codes - A two letter abbreviation for a particular country.
Eg: ”in” for India , ”uk” for United Kingdom or “ fr” for France.

INTERNET TOOLS
Internet provides several software tools to take maximum benefits from the net. It
is possible to communicate with people all around the world. Information on
various subjects can be accessed very easily. A user can navigate from one topic to
another and download any information required by him. Friendship can be built
with people of related interest from around the world. The following are some of
the services that can be exploited by an internet user:
1. E-mail
2. FTP
3. Usenet
4. Telnet
5. Internet Relay chat (RTC)
6. World Wide Web
1. Electronic Mail (E-mail)
E-mail is an electronic message sent from one computer to another .Messages can
be prepared and sent reliably over communication networks from the computer of
the sender to be received at the computer of recipient. This facility allows to
exchange mail with millions of people all over the world at economical rates.

E-mail address
Electronic messages are delivered to the recipient at his e-mail address. E-mail
address is a series of characters that precisely identifies the location of a person’s
electronic mail box. On the internet mail address consists of a mail box name
followed by at sign @ and the computers domain name.

2. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

This is another facility available in the internet.FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the
simplest and most secure way to exchange files over the internet.
FTP is the protocol or set of rules, which enables files to be transferred between
computers. It is a powerful tool which allows files to be transferred from one
computer to another computer.
FTP works on the client / server principle. A client program enables the user to
interact with a server in order to access information and services on the server
computer. Files that can be transferred are stored on Server computers. A client can
access these files only through a client application program. This program helps a
client computer to locate required file to be transferred and starts the process of
transfer.
To access other computer, user has to normally supply a login name and password
and after that he can access the computers file dictionary system and can upload
(send) and download (receive) files.

3. Usenet
Usenet or User’s Network is not a computer network. In the physical sense, it is a
vast body of news group that are distributed all around the world by computers
called ‘news server’.

4. Telnet
This is another important facility available in Internet. Telnet allows internet users
to access another Computer linked to the internet .The user’s computer is called
local computer and the computers to which connection is established is known as
remote computer.

5. Internet Relay chat (RTC)

Internet Relay Chat is a real time internet based chat service, in which one can find
‘live’ participants from the world over. It is a multiuser chat system that allows
many people to communicate simultaneously across the Internet. Developed in
1988 by J.Oikarimen in Finland, the IRC offering a unique type of talking
experience on the net has been extensively for live coverage of world events, news
and sports commentary. The IRC network on the internet consists of multiple
interconnected servers. The IRC service provides a number of channels; public,
private, secret or invisible.

6. World Wide Web

World Wide Web or simply web is one of the main reasons for the growth
popularity of the internet. Information can be accessed on the internet through
World Wide Web. Web is a system of organizing, linking and providing access to
related internet files, resources and services. Files can be accessed at the click of
the mouse. This is mainly due to the arrangement of the files based a hypertext or
hyper media or hyper-media approach.

Advantages of Internet

1. Ease of use.
2. Publishing ease.
3. Low cost.
4. Low maintenance.
5. Easy Software distribution.

Disadvantages of Internet

1. Short term risk.

2. Less back-end integration.
3. Performance limitation.
 E-COMMERCE

E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling of products on online services or

over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile
commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet
marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data
interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data
collection systems.
Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one
part of the transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such
as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books
(such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital
distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized
online liquor store inventory services. There are three areas of e-commerce: online
retailing, electric markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is supported
by electronic business.
E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:

 Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile
apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants
 Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party
business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales
 Business-to-business buying and selling;
 Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media
 Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange
 Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for
example, with newsletters)
 Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services
 Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.

India, the Information Technology Act 2000 governs the basic applicability of e-
commerce.
Forms
Contemporary electronic commerce can be classified into two categories. The first
category is business based on types of goods sold (involves everything from
ordering "digital" content for immediate online consumption, to ordering
conventional goods and services, to "meta" services to facilitate other types of
electronic commerce). The second category is based on the nature of the
participant (B2B, B2C, C2B and C2C)
On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the
internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international
business. Data integrity and security are pressing issues for electronic commerce.
Aside from traditional e-commerce, the terms m-Commerce (mobile commerce) as
well (around 2013) t-Commerce have also been used.

What is Ecommerce?
Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to
the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of
money and data to execute these transactions. Ecommerce is often used to refer to
the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any kind of
commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet.

Whereas e-business refers to all aspects of operating an online business,

ecommerce refers specifically to the transaction of goods and services.

Types of Ecommerce Models

There are four main types of ecommerce models that can describe almost every
transaction that takes place between consumers and businesses.

1. Business to Consumer (B2C):

When a business sells a good or service to an individual consumer (e.g. You buy a
pair of shoes from an online retailer).

2. Business to Business (B2B):

When a business sells a good or service to another business (e.g. A business sells
software-as-a-service for other businesses to use)
3. Consumer to Consumer (C2C):
When a consumer sells a good or service to another consumer (e.g. You sell your
old furniture on eBay to another consumer).

4. Consumer to Business (C2B):

When a consumer sells their own products or services to a business or organization
(e.g. An influencer offers exposure to their online audience in exchange for a fee,
or a photographer licenses their photo for a business to use).

Examples of Ecommerce
Ecommerce can take on a variety of forms involving different transactional
relationships between businesses and consumers, as well as different objects being
exchanged as part of these transactions.

8. Retail:
The sale of a product by a business directly to a customer without any
intermediary.

2. Wholesale:
The sale of products in bulk, often to a retailer that then sells them directly to
consumers.

3. Dropshipping:
The sale of a product, which is manufactured and shipped to the consumer by a
third party.

4. Crowdfunding:
The collection of money from consumers in advance of a product being available
in order to raise the startup capital necessary to bring it to market.

5. Subscription:
The automatic recurring purchase of a product or service on a regular basis until
the subscriber chooses to cancel.

6. Physical products:
Any tangible good that requires inventory to be replenished and orders to be
physically shipped to customers as sales are made.

7. Digital products:
Downloadable digital goods, templates, and courses, or media that must be
purchased for consumption or licensed for use.

8. Services:
A skill or set of skills provided in exchange for compensation. The service
provider’s time can be purchased for a fee.
 DATABASE SYSTEM
Databases and database systems are an essential component of life in modern
society: most of us encounter several activities every day that involve some
interaction with a database. For example, if we go to the bank to deposit or
withdraw funds, if we make a hotel or airline reservation, if we access a
computerized library catalog to search for a bibliographic item, or if we purchase
something online—such as a book, toy, or computer— chances are that our
activities will involve someone or some computer program accessing a database.
Even purchasing items at a supermarket often automatically updates the database
that holds the inventory of grocery items.
A Database is a shared collection of related data which is used to support the
activities of a particular organization. A database can be viewed as a repository of
data that is defined once and then is accessed by various users.

A database has the following implicit properties:

 A database represents some aspect of the real world, sometimes called the
miniworld. Changes to the miniworld are reflected in the database.
 A database is a logically coherent collection of data with some inherent
meaning. A random assortment of data cannot correctly be referred to as a
database.
 A database is designed, built, and populated with data for a specific
purpose. It has an intended group of users and some preconceived
applications in which these users are interested.

Characteristics of Database Systems

1. Self-Describing Nature of a Database System

A Database System contains not only the database itself but also a complete
definition or description of the database structure and constraints. This definition is
stored in the DBMS catalog, which contains information such as the structure of
each file, the type and storage format of each data item, and various constraints on
the data. The information stored in the catalog is called meta-data.

2. Insulation between Program and Data and Data Abstraction

In the file based system, the structure of the data files is defined in the application
programs so if a user wants to change the structure of a file, all the programs that
access that file might need to be changed as well. On the other hand, in the
database approach, the data structure is stored in the system catalog not in the
programs. Therefore, one change is all that’s needed.We call this property
program-data independence.

3. Sharing of Data and Multiuser Transaction Processing

A multiuser database system must allow multiple users access to the database at
the same. The multiuser DBMS must have concurrency control strategies to ensure
several users access to the same data item at the same time, and to do so in a
manner that the data will always be correct – data integrity.The DBMS must
include concurrency control software to ensure that several users trying to update
the same data do so in a controlled manner so that the result of the updates is
correct.

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DBMS)

A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of programs that enables
users to create and maintain a database. The DBMS is a general-purpose software
system that facilitates the processes of defining, constructing, manipulating, and
sharing databases among various users and applications. Defining a database
involves specifying the data types, structures, and constraints of the data to be
stored in the database. The database definition or descriptive information is also
stored by the DBMS in the form of a database catalog or dictionary; it is called
meta-data.
Three main components of DBMS are:

1. Data definition language (DDL)

The contents of database are created by using the DDL. It defines relationship
between different data elements and serves as an interface for application
programmes that uses data.

2. Data Manipulation Language (DML)

Data processed and updated by using a language called data manipulation
language. It allows a user to query database and receive summary or customized
reports. DML is usually integrated with other programming languages.

3. Data Dictionary
Data dictionary contains schema of the database. It defines each data item in the
database, lists its structure, source, persons authorized to modify it etc. in other
words it gives metadata i.e., data about data, through which the end user data are
integrated and managed.

Database Administrator

In any organization where many people use the same resources, there is a need for
achieve administrator to oversee and manage these resources. In a database
environment, the primary resource is the database itself, and the secondary
resource is the DBMS and related software. Administering these resources is the
responsibility of the database administrator (DBA).
DBA coordinates all the activities of the database system; the database
administrator has a good understanding of the enterprise’s information resources
and needs.

His duties include:

 Schema definition
The Database Administrator creates the database schema by executing DDL
statements.
Schema includes
 The logical structure of database table (Relation) like data types of
attributes, length of attributes,
 Integrity constraints etc.
 Storage structure and access method definition
 Database tables or indexes are stored in the following ways: Flat files,
Heaps, B+ Tree etc.
 Schema and physical organization modification
 Granting user authority to access the database
The DBA provides different access rights to the users according to their
level. Ordinary users might have highly restricted access to data, while you
go up in the hierarchy to the administrator, you will get more access rights.
 Specifying integrity constraints
 Acting as liaison with users
 Monitoring performance and responding to changes in requirements
 Routine Maintenance
Some of the routine maintenance activities of a DBA include; taking backup of
database periodically, ensuring enough disk space is available all the time.

ADVANTAGES OF USING THE DBMS APPROACH

 Controlling Redundancy
In traditional software development utilizing file processing, every user group
maintains its own files for handling its data-processing applications. This
redundancy in storing the same data multiple times leads to several problems such
as duplication of effort, wastage of storage space, inconsistency in data.

 Restricting Unauthorized Access

When multiple users share a large database, it is likely that most users will not be
authorized to access all information in the database. Hence, the type of access
operation— retrieval or update—must also be controlled.

 Providing Persistent Storage for Program Objects

Databases can be used to provide persistent storage for program objects and data
structures.
This is one of the main reasons for object-oriented database systems. A complex
object in
C++ can be stored permanently in an object-oriented DBMS. Such an object is said
to be persistent, since it survives the termination of program execution and can
later be directly retrieved by another C++ program.
 Providing Storage Structures and Search Techniques for Efficient Query
Processing
Database systems must provide capabilities for efficiently executing queries and
updates. Because the database is typically stored on disk, the DBMS must provide
specialized data structures and search techniques to speed up disk search for the
desired records. Auxiliary files called indexes are used for this purpose.

 Providing Backup and Recovery

A DBMS must provide facilities for recovering from hardware or software failures.
The backup and recovery subsystem of the DBMS is responsible for recovery.

 Providing Multiple User Interfaces

Because many types of users with varying levels of technical knowledge use a
database, a DBMS should provide a variety of user interfaces.

 Representing Complex Relationships among Data

A database may include numerous varieties of data that are interrelated in many
ways. A
DBMS must have the capability to represent a variety of complex relationships
among the data, to define new relationships as they arise, and to retrieve and
update related data easily and efficiently.

 Permitting Inference and Actions Using Rules

Some database systems provide capabilities for defining deduction rules for
inference new information from the stored database facts. Such systems are called
deductive database systems.

DATABASE SECURITY

Database security concerns the use of a broad range of information security

controls to protect databases (potentially including the data, the database
applications or stored functions, the database systems, the database servers and the
associated network links) against compromises of their confidentiality, integrity
and availability.

Security risks to database systems include:

 Unauthorized or unintended activity or misuse by authorized database users,
database
Administrators, or network/systems managers, or by unauthorized users or hackers
(e.g. Inappropriate access to sensitive data, metadata or functions within databases,
or inappropriate changes to the database programs, structures or security
configurations);
 Malware infections causing incidents such as unauthorized access, leakage or
disclosure of personal or proprietary data, deletion of or damage to the data or
programs, interruption or denial of authorized access to the database, attacks on
other systems and the unanticipated failure of database services;
 Overloads, performance constraints and capacity issues resulting in the inability
of authorized users to use databases as intended;
 Physical damage to database servers caused by computer room fires or floods,
overheating, lightning, accidental liquid spills, static discharge, electronic
breakdowns/equipment failures and obsolescence;
 Design flaws and programming bugs in databases and the associated programs
and systems, creating various security vulnerabilities (e.g. unauthorized privilege
escalation), data loss/corruption, performance degradation etc.;
 Data corruption and/or loss caused by the entry of invalid data or commands,
mistakes in database or system administration processes, sabotage/criminal damage
etc.

Control Measures

Four main control measures are used to provide security of data in databases:
 Access control, User Accounts, and Database Audits
 Inference control
 Flow control
 Data encryption
A security problem common to computer systems is that of preventing
unauthorized persons from accessing the system itself, either to obtain information
or to make malicious changes in a portion of the database. The security mechanism
of a DBMS must include provisions for restricting access to the database system as
a whole. This function, called access control, is handled by creating user accounts
and passwords to control the login process by the DBMS.
Whenever a person or a group of persons needs to access a database system, the
individual or group must first apply for a user account. The DBA will then create
a new account number and password for the user if there is a legitimate need to
access the database. The user must log in to the DBMS by entering the account
number and password whenever database access is needed.
The DBMS checks that the account number and password are valid; if they are, the
user is permitted to use the DBMS and to access the database.

Statistical databases are used to provide statistical information or summaries of

values based on various criteria. For example, a database for population statistics
may provide statistics based on age groups, income levels, household size,
education levels, and other criteria. Statistical database users such as government
statisticians or market research firms are allowed to access the database to retrieve
statistical information about a population but not to access the detailed confidential
information about specific individuals. Security for statistical databases must
ensure that information about individuals cannot be accessed. It is sometimes
possible to deduce or infer certain facts concerning individuals from queries that
involve only summary statistics on groups; consequently, this must not be
permitted either. This problem, called statistical database security, the
corresponding control measures are called inference control measures.

Another security issue is that of Flow Control, which prevents information from
flowing in such a way that it reaches unauthorized users. Channels that are
pathways for information to flow implicitly in ways that violate the security policy
of an organization are called covert channels.

A final control measure is Data Encryption, which is used to protect sensitive

data (such as credit card numbers) that is transmitted via some type of
communications network. Encryption can be used to provide additional protection
for sensitive portions of a database as well. The data is encoded using some coding
algorithm.

Digital signature and Digital certificate- Digital signatures are commonly used for
software distribution, financial transactions, and in other cases where it is
important to detect forgery or tampering. A digital signature or digital signature
scheme is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of a digital
message or document.

Integrity control means keeping the data consistent and correct by means of
controls that a database administrator puts on the database. Only persons with
privileged accounts can load data into the database. Even with that, there are rules
on the table fields that allow only a certain type of data to be inserted.
In information technology, a backup or the process of backing up is making copies
of data which may be used to restore the original after a data loss.
 PHASES SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LIFE
CYCLE

Computer software, or simply software, is a collection of data or computer

instructions that tell the computer how to work. This is in contrast to physical
hardware, from which the system is built and actually performs the work.
In computer science and software engineering, computer software is
all information processed by computer systems, programs and data. Computer
software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data,
such as online documentation or digital media. Computer hardware and software
require each other and neither can be realistically used on its own.

Some general kinds of application software include:

 Productivity software, which includes word processors, spreadsheets, and tools

for use by most computer users
 Presentation software
 Graphics software for graphic designers
 CAD/CAM software
 Specialized scientific applications
 Vertical market or industry-specific software (for example, for banking,
insurance, retail, and manufacturing environments)
 There are various software development approaches defined and designed
which are used/employed during development process of software, these
approaches are also referred as “Software Development Process Models”
(e.g. Waterfall model, incremental model, V-model, iterative
model, RAD model, Agile model, Spiral model, Prototype model etc.).
Each process model follows a particular life cycle in order to ensure success
in process of software development.
Software life cycle models describe phases of the software cycle and the order in
which those phases are executed. Each phase produces deliverables required by the
next phase in the life cycle. Requirements are translated into design. Code is
produced according to the design which is called development phase. After coding
and development the testing verifies the deliverable of the implementation phase
against requirements. The testing team follows Software Testing Life Cycle
(STLC) which is similar to the development cycle followed by the development
team.

There are following six phases in every Software development life cycle model:

1. Requirement gathering and analysis

2. Design
3. Implementation
entation or coding
4. Testing
5. Deployment
6. Maintenance
1) Requirement gathering and analysis: Business requirements are gathered in
this phase. This phase is the main focus of the project managers and stake
holders. Meetings with managers, stake holders and users are held in order to
determine the requirements like; who is going to use the system? How will they
use the system? What data should be input into the system? What data should be
output by the system? These are general questions that get answered during a
requirements gathering phase. After requirement gathering these requirements are
analyzed for their validity and the possibility of incorporating the requirements in
the system to be development is also studied.

Finally, a Requirement Specification document is created which serves the purpose

of guideline for the next phase of the model. The testing team follows the Software
Testing Life Cycle and starts the Test Planning phase after the requirements
analysis is completed.

2) Design: In this phase the system and software design is prepared from the
requirement specifications which were studied in the first phase. System Design
helps in specifying hardware and system requirements and also helps in defining
overall system architecture. The system design specifications serve as input for the
next phase of the model.

In this phase the testers comes up with the Test strategy, where they mention what
to test, how to test.

3) Implementation / Coding: On receiving system design documents, the work

is divided in modules/units and actual coding is started. Since, in this phase the
code is produced so it is the main focus for the developer. This is the longest phase
of the software development life cycle.

4) Testing: After the code is developed it is tested against the requirements to

make sure that the product is actually solving the needs addressed and gathered
during the requirements phase. During this phase all types of functional
testing like unit testing, integration testing, system testing, acceptance
testing are done as well as non-functional testing are also done.

5) Deployment: After successful testing the product is delivered / deployed to the

customer for their use.

As soon as the product is given to the customers they will first do the beta testing.
If any changes are required or if any bugs are caught, then they will report it to the
engineering team. Once those changes are made or the bugs are fixed then the final
deployment will happen.

6) Maintenance: Once when the customers starts using the developed system then
the actual problems comes up and needs to be solved from time to time. This
process where the care is taken for the developed product is known as
maintenance.
 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM
A decision support system (DSS) is an information system that supports business
or organizational decision making activities. DSSs serve the management,
operations and planning levels of an organization (usually mid and higher
management) and help people make decisions about problems that may be rapidly
changing and not easily specified in advance—i.e. unstructured and semi-
structured decision problems. Decision support systems can be either fully
computerized or human powered, or a combination of both.
While academics have perceived DSS as a tool to support decision making
processes, DSS users see DSS as a tool to facilitate organizational processes. Some
authors have extended the definition of DSS to include any system that might
support decision making and some DSS include a decision-making software
component; Sprague (1980) defines a properly termed DSS as follows:
1. DSS tends to be aimed at the less well structured, underspecified problem that
upper level managers typically face;
2. DSS attempts to combine the use of models or analytic techniques with
traditional data access and retrieval functions;
3. DSS specifically focuses on features which make them easy to use by non-
computer-proficient people in an interactive mode; and
4. DSS emphasizes flexibility and adaptability to accommodate changes in the
environment and the decision making approach of the user.

DSSs include knowledge-based systems. A properly designed DSS is an interactive

software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful
information from a combination of raw data, documents, and personal knowledge,
or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present
includes: inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data
sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts), comparative sales figures
between one period and the next, projected revenue figures based on product sales
assumptions.
TAXONOMIES

One of the taxonomy for DSS, according to the mode of assistance, has been
created by Daniel Power: he differentiates communication-driven DSS, data-driven
DSS, document-driven DSS, knowledge-driven DSS, and model-driven DSS.
 A communication-driven DSS enables cooperation, supporting more than
one person working on a shared task; examples include integrated tools like
Google Docs or Microsoft SharePoint Workspace.[8]
 A data-driven DSS (or data-oriented DSS) emphasizes access to and
manipulation of a time series of internal company data and, sometimes,
external data.
 A document-driven DSS manages, retrieves, and manipulates unstructured
information in a variety of electronic formats.
 A knowledge-driven DSS provides specialized problem solving expertise
stored as facts, rules, procedures, or in similar structures.
 A model-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a statistical,
financial, optimization, or simulation model. Model-driven DSS use data
and parameters provided by users to assist decision makers in analyzing a
situation; they are not necessarily data-intensive. Dicodess is an example of
an open source model-driven DSS generator.

COMPONENTS
Three fundamental components of a DSS architecture
are:
1. The database (or knowledge base), Components
2. The model (i.e., the decision context and user criteria)
3. The user interface.
The users themselves are also important components of the architecture.

DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS
Similarly to other systems, DSS systems require a structured approach. Such a
framework includes people, technology, and the development approach.

The Early Framework of Decision Support System consists of four phases:

 Intelligence – Searching for conditions that call for decision;
 Design – Developing and analyzing possible alternative actions of solution;
 Choice – Selecting a course of action among those;
  Implementation – Adopting the selected course of action in decision
situation.

CLASSIFICATION
There are several ways to classify DSS applications. Not every DSS fits neatly into
one of the categories, but may be a mix of two or more architectures.
Holsapple and Whinston classify DSS into the following six frameworks:
 text-oriented DSS
 database oriented DSS
 spreadsheet-oriented DSS
 solver-oriented DSS
 rule-oriented DSS
 compound DSS.

A compound DSS is the most popular classification for a DSS; it is a hybrid

system that includes two or more of the five basic structures.

The support given by DSS can be separated into three distinct, interrelated
categories: Personal Support, Group Support, and Organizational Support.

DSS components may be classified as:

1. Inputs: Factors, numbers, and characteristics to analyze
2. User knowledge and expertise: Inputs requiring manual analysis by the user
3. Outputs: Transformed data from which DSS "decisions" are generated
4. Decisions: Results generated by the DSS based on user criteria

DSSs which perform selected cognitive decision-making functions and are based
on artificial intelligence or intelligent agents technologies are called intelligent
decision support systems (IDSS).The nascent field of decision engineering treats
the decision itself as an engineered object, and applies engineering principles such
as design and quality assurance to an explicit representation of the elements that
make up a decision.
APPLICATIONS
 DSS is extensively used in business and management. Executive dashboard
and other business performance software allow faster decision making,
identification of negative trends, and better allocation of business resources.
Due to DSS all the information from any organization is represented in the
form of charts, graphs i.e. in a summarized way, which helps the
management to take strategic decision. For example, one of the DSS
applications is the management and development of complex anti-terrorism
systems. Other examples include a bank loan officer verifying the credit of a
loan applicant or an engineering firm that has bids on several projects and
wants to know if they can be competitive with their costs.

 A growing area of DSS application, concepts, principles, and techniques is

in agricultural production, marketing for sustainable development.
 DSS are also prevalent in forest management where the long planning
horizon and the spatial dimension of planning problems demands specific
requirements.
 Clinical decision support system for medical diagnosis. There are four stages
in the evolution of clinical decision support system (CDSS).
 COMPUTERIZATION
The definition of computerization involves the process of taking activities or
tasks not previously done on the computer and shifting them to being done on
the computer.

Shifting from keeping patient records on paper to keeping patient records in the
computer is an example of computerization.
Computers have tremendously improved the way businesses operate in their
respective industries. Technology has advanced so remarkably that those who
are not using computers in their business are at a major disadvantage against
their competitors. In particular, there are several important advantages that
computers can provide to small businesses.

ADVANTAGE OF COMPUTERIZATION IN BUSSINESS

Organization

Computers allow the application of different types of software that can help
businesses keep track of their files, documents, schedules and deadlines.
Computers also allow businesses to organize all of their information in a very
accessible manner. The ability to store large amounts of data on a computer is
convenient and inexpensive, and saves space. A computer's ability to allow a
company to organize its files efficiently leads to better time management and
productivity.

Self-Sufficiency

Computers have made staff and companies more self-sufficient by allowing them
to do tasks that previously had to be outsourced. For example, a company can now
use office software to create their own training material. Desktop publishing
software can be used to create marketing materials. Online tax and accounting
programs allow companies to prepare their own taxes. This allows the dominant
operations of a company to remain in-house and empowers the company to
become more independent and less susceptible to errors committed by outside
parties.

Cost-Effective

Emerging technology makes new tools and services more affordable and allows
companies to save on their staff payroll and office equipment. Because computers
allow work to be done faster and more efficiently, it is possible for a company to
hire fewer staff. In addition, with networked and relatively inexpensive computers,
companies can store data more easily, saving on the cost of outside file storage,
and can avoid having to purchase as many copiers, fax machines, typewriters, and
other such items that were used before computers became popular.
Correspondingly, potentially profitable businesses can be started with a smaller
overhead cost. Email capabilities decrease postage costs; software applications
reduce the need for large accounting departments, while videoconferencing
reduces the need for travel. All resources saved will trickle down to the consumers,
who are then provided with much more affordable products and service.

Speed

Computers help speed up other business operations. The collecting of consumer

feedback, ordering of raw materials, and inspection of products is made quicker
through the use of computers, allowing companies to operate much faster and to
produce better quality results.

Cheaper Research and Development

R&D, or research and development, costs will also decrease with the help of
computers. Scientific research can now be done using the Internet and computer
software applications designed to develop and produce new products and services.
For example, instead of a company having to do in-person focus groups on a
potential new product or to determine their target market, the company can conduct
a widespread online survey for a far lower cost. In addition, new models of a
product can be created online using virtual pictures and drawings instead of having
to be hand-drawn. These interactive models created using software programs can
 help bring the product and its features to life for a far lower cost than creating an
actual physical model of the given product.

Sales

Computers can help generate higher sales and profits for businesses via a company
website. Many businesses now operate online and around the clock to allow
customers from around the world to shop for their products and services.

Uses, Benefits, Reward and Advantages of Computer

1. Medical Departments
Computer is not only the combination of CPU, Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard. The
Machines in Medical and Health departments and hospitals like X-Ray, Pathology
Machine, Electrocardiograph Machine, Transport Monitors, Blood Gas Machine
and Transport Ventilators etc. these all and thousands of other machines are
computerized.

2. Government Departments
In the list of advantages on second position goes to the point, uses of computers in
government departments. Government of every country uses the computerized
system in every department to keep the records of people for long time. This is the
biggest advantages of computer system for the world. Because we can easily find
the person in county with the help of notional identification card issue by the
government. And the second thing that is very difficult to keep the record of whole
country in books and registers.

3. Education
Computers have a lot of advantages and disadvantages but we can get full benefits
for computer in education department. There are very high number of uses of
computers in all the education sections. We can use it in schools for students fee
cards, pictures, papers, result cards etc. also use for merit lists, we can also get
connect to the every university and college in the world and can get online
admission with the help of internet connection. Students solve their question,
create designs, create software and thousands are other advantages of computer in
education and technology.
 4. Jobs Opportunities
Another important points in list for the jobless people. Because jobless people can
find easily job on internet with the help of computer. As compare to buy the
newspaper from market and search job on every page in all newspapers. You can
easily point out job according to your education and experience.

8. High Storage Space

You can use and get advantages from computer buy saving your thousands of old
and new images. Your old memories, your project images, videos and working
files. Because today computer have the ability to save the data in Terabytes.

9. Presentation
Presentations are play big role in every field to know more about the things. And to
know something quick and easy with the help of presentation. Power Point
software are uses for creating the presentations. These presentations are may be for
events, products and projects etc.

10. Business Departments

The last points of advantages and disadvantages of computer essay in points are
about the uses of computers in business departments. Every organization in the
world, either it is small or big must need at least one or two computer for
documentation, keeping records of workers, online communication etc.

Drawbacks, Demerits and Disadvantages of Computer

1. Environments Pollution
Computers are not only the CPU, Monitors, Mouse and Keyboards. Heavy
automatic machines, Laptops, Mobiles, Tablets and many other machines and
equipment that works on command are called Computer. There for the
manufacturing of these machines and components are causes of Environments
Pollution like, Air Pollution, Water Pollution and Soil Pollution. There are also
many Advantages and Disadvantages of Pollution.

2. Data Security
The second drawback and demerit of PC is data is not secure in the hard drive. In
the office someone can stole your files in minimum time in your absence. Because
the CPU’s are very fast now today and transferring the data to USB takes no time.
3. Reduce Job Opportunities
At the one hand computer produce job opportunities, but on anther hand it also
reduce the job opportunities. Because a lot machines today’s works automatically,
work done before by five or ten peoples now that work machine do alone with one
command.

4. Viruses
Virus word is good in sound but it kill your Computer and can damage your files
and data available in your Hard Disk. Virus is the enemy ofPC, once it enter into
system, the quantity of virus increase automatically daily and at the end you will
loss you all important information and data.

5. Need Skilled Person

No five points in “Disadvantages of Computer” is skilled person is needed for
every special task. And skilled person in specific software will charge high salary.
For example for designing need Graphic Designer, for architect need person who
can work in AutoCAD, for computerized accounting need person who can work in
Peachtree or QuickBooks Software.

9. Short Circuit
In case of any problem in power cable, less or more power of electricity or heavy
load on computer may cause of short circuit or blast. In that cases you may lose
you data and files and other may be you have to lose your whole system.
 CYBER CRIMES & CYBER LAWS

Cybercrime is defined as a crime in which a computer is the object of the crime

(hacking, phishing, spamming) or is used as a tool to commit an offense (child
pornography, hate crimes). Cybercriminals may use computer technology to access
personal information, business trade secrets or use the internet for exploitative or
malicious purposes. Criminals can also use computers for communication and
document or data storage. Criminals who perform these illegal activities are often
referred to as hackers.
Cybercrime may also be referred to as computer crime.
Common types of cybercrime include online bank information theft, identity theft,
online predatory crimes and unauthorized computer access. More serious crimes
like cyber terrorism are also of significant concern.
Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of activities, but these can generally be
broken into two categories:

 Crimes that target computer networks or devices. These types of crimes include
viruses and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
 Crimes that use computer networks to advance other criminal activities. These
types of crimes include cyber stalking, phishing and fraud or identity theft.

MAJOR CYBER CRIME

There are literally a dozen ways in which a cybercrime can be perpetrated,
and you need to know what they are

In order to protect yourself you need to know about the different ways in which
your computer can be compromised and your privacy infringed. In this section, we
discuss a few common tools and techniques employed by the cyber criminals. This
isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but will give you a comprehensive idea of
the loopholes in

networks and security systems, which can be exploited by attackers, and also their
possible motives for doing so.
1. Hacking

In simple words, hacking is an act committed by an intruder by accessing your

computer system without your permission. Hackers (the people doing the
‘hacking’) are basically computer programmers, who have an advanced
understanding of computers and commonly misuse this knowledge for devious
reasons. They’re usually technology buffs who have expert-level skills in one
particular software program or language. As for motives, there could be several,
but the most common are pretty simple and can be explained by a human tendancy
such as greed, fame, power, etc. Some people do it purely to show-off their
expertise – ranging from relatively harmless activities such as modifying software
(and even hardware) to carry out tasks that are outside the creator’s intent, others
just want to cause destruction.

Greed and sometimes voyeuristic tendencies may cause a hacker to break into
systems to steal personal banking information, a corporation’s financial data, etc.
They also try and modify systems so that they can execute tasks at their whims.
Hackers displaying such destructive conduct are also called “Crackers” at times.
they are also called “Black Hat” hackers On the other hand, there are those who
develop an interest in computer hacking just out of intellectual curiosity. Some
companies hire these computer enthusiasts to find flaws in their security systems
and help fix them. Referred to as “White Hat” hackers, these guys are against the
abuse of computer systems. They attempt to break into network systems purely to
alert the owners of flaws. It’s not always altruistic, though, because many do this
for fame as well, in order to land jobs with top companies, or just to be termed as
security experts. “Grey Hat” is another term used to refer to hacking activities that
are a cross between black and white hacking.

Some of the most famous computer geniuses were once hackers who went on to
use their skills for constructive technological development. Dennis Ritchie and
Ken Thompson, the creators of the UNIX operating system (Linux’s predecessor),
were two of them. Shawn Fanning, the developer of Napster, Mark Zuckerberg of
Facebook fame, and many more are also examples. The first step towards
preventing hackers from gaining access to your systems is to learn how hacking is
done. Of course it is beyond the scope of this Fast Track to go into great details,
but we will cover the various techniques used by hackers to get to you via the
internet.

a. SQL Injections: An SQL injection is a technique that allows hackers to play

upon the security vulnerabilities of the software that runs a web site. It can be used
to attack any type of unprotected or improperly protected SQL database. This
process involves entering portions of SQL code into a web form entry field – most
commonly usernames and passwords – to give the hacker further access to the site
backend, or to a particular user’s account. When you enter logon information into
sign-in fields, this information is typically converted to an SQL command. This
command checks the data you’ve entered against the relevant table in the database.
If your input data matches the data in the table, you’re granted access, if not, you
get the kind of error you would have seen when you put in a wrong password. An
SQL injection is usually an additional command that when inserted into the web
form, tries to change the content of the database to reflect a successful login. It can
also be used to retrieve information such as credit card numbers or passwords from
unprotected sites.

b. Theft of FTP Passwords: This is another very common way to tamper with
web sites. FTP password hacking takes advantage of the fact that many
webmasters store their website login information on their poorly protected PCs.
The thief searches the victim’s system for FTP login details, and then relays them
to his own remote computer. He then logs into the web site via the remote
computer and modifies the web pages as he or she pleases.

c. Cross-site scripting:
Also known as XSS (formerly CSS, but renamed due to confusion with cascading
style sheets), is a very easy way of circumventing a security system. Cross-site
scripting is a hard-to-find loophole in a web site, making it vulnerable to attack. In
a typical XSS attack, the hacker infects a web page with a malicious client-side
script or program. When you visit this web page, the script is automatically
downloaded to your browser and executed. Typically, attackers inject HTML,
JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX or Flash into a vulnerable application to deceive
you and gather confidential information. If you want to protect your PC from
malicious hackers, investing in a good firewall should be first and foremost.
Hacking is done through a network, so it’s very important to stay safe while using
the internet. You’ll read more about safety tips in the last chapter of this book.

2. Virus dissemination

Viruses are computer programs that attach themselves to or infect a system or files,
and have a tendency to circulate to other computers on a network. They disrupt the
computer operation and affect the data stored – either by modifying it or by
deleting it altogether. “Worms” unlike viruses don’t need a host to cling on to.
They merely replicate until they eat up all available memory in the system. The
term “worm” is sometimes used to mean self-replicating “malware” (Malicious
software). These terms are often used interchangeably in the context of the hybrid
viruses/worms that dominate the current virus scenario. “Trojan horses” are
different from viruses in their manner of propagation.
They masquerade as a legitimate file, such as an email attachment from a supposed
friend with a very believable name, and don’t disseminate themselves. The user
can also unknowingly install a Trojan-infected program via drive-by downloads
when visiting a website, playing online games or using internet-driven
applications. A Trojan horse can cause damage similar to other viruses, such as
steal information or hamper/disrupt the functioning of computer systems.
Computer viruses usually spread via removable media or the internet. A flash disk,
CD-ROM, magnetic tape or other storage device that has been in an infected
computer infects all future computers in which it’s used. Your computer can also
contract viruses from sinister email attachments, rogue web sites or infected
software. And these disseminate to every other computer on your network.

All computer viruses cause direct or indirect economic damages. Based on this,
there are two categories of viruses:
1) Those that only disseminate and don’t cause intentional damage
2) Those which are programmed to cause damage.
However, even by disseminating, they take up plenty of memory space, and time
and resources that are spent on the clean-up job. Direct economic damages are
caused when viruses alter the information during digital transmission.
Considerable expenses are incurred by individuals, firms and authorities for
developing and implementing the anti-virus tools to protect computer systems.
3. Logic bombs
A logic bomb, also known as “slag code”, is a malicious piece of code which is
intentionally inserted into software to execute a malicious task when triggered by a
specific event. It’s not a virus, although it usually behaves in a similar manner. It is
stealthily inserted into the program where it lies dormant until specified conditions
are met. Malicious software such as viruses and worms often contain logic bombs
which are triggered at a specific payload or at a predefined time. The payload of a
logic bomb is unknown to the user of the software, and the task that it executes
unwanted. Program codes that are scheduled to execute at a particular time are
known as “time-bombs”. For example, the infamous “Friday the 13th” virus which
attacked the host systems only on specific dates; it “exploded” (duplicated itself)
every Friday that happened to be the thirteenth of a month, thus causing system
slowdowns.
Logic bombs are usually employed by disgruntled employees working in the IT
sector. You may have heard of “disgruntled employee syndrome” wherein angry
employees who’ve been fired use logic bombs to delete the databases of their
employers, stultify the network for a while or even do insider trading. Triggers
associated with the execution of logic bombs can be a specific date and time, a
missing entry from a database or not putting in a command at the usual time,
meaning the person doesn’t work there anymore. Most logic bombs stay only in
the network they were employed in. So in most cases, they’re an insider job. This
makes them easier to design and execute than a virus. It doesn’t need to replicate;
which is a more complex job. To keep your network protected from the logic
bombs, you need constant monitoring of the data and efficient anti-virus software
on each of the computers in the network.

There’s another use for the type of action carried out in a logic bomb “explosion” –
to make restricted software trials. The embedded piece of code destroys the
software after a defined period of time or renders it unusable until the user pays for
its further use. Although this piece of code uses the same technique as a logic
bomb, it has a non-destructive, non-malicious and user-transparent use, and is not
typically referred to as one.
4. Denial-of-Service attack
A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack is an explicit attempt by attackers to deny
service to intended users of that service. It involves flooding a computer resource
with more requests than it can handle consuming its available bandwidth which
results in server overload. This causes the resource (e.g. a web server) to crash or
slow down significantly so that no one can access it. Using this technique, the
attacker can render a web site inoperable by sending massive amounts of traffic to
the targeted site. A site may temporarily malfunction or crash completely, in any
case resulting in inability of the system to communicate adequately. DoS attacks
violate the acceptable use policies of virtually all internet service providers.
Another variation to a denial-of-service attack is known as a “Distributed Denial of
Service” (DDoS) attack wherein a number of geographically widespread
perpetrators flood the network traffic. Denial-of-Service attacks typically target
high profile web site servers belonging to banks and credit card payment gateways.
Websites of companies such as Amazon, CNN, Yahoo, Twitter and eBay! are not
spared either.
5. Phishing
This technique of extracting confidential information such as credit card numbers
and username password combos by masquerading as a legitimate enterprise.
Phishing is typically carried out by email spoofing. You’ve probably received
email containing links to legitimate appearing websites. You probably found it
suspicious and didn’t click the link smart move. The malware would have installed
itself on your computer and stolen private information. Cyber-criminals use social
engineering to trick you into downloading malware off the internet or make you fill
in your personal information under false pretenses. A phishing scam in an email
message can be evaded by keeping certain things in mind. Web jacking can also be
done by sending a counterfeit message to the registrar controlling the domain name
registration, under a false identity asking him to connect a domain name to the
webjacker’s IP address, thus sending unsuspecting consumers who enter that
particular domain name to a website controlled by the webjacker. The purpose of
this attack is to try to harvest the credentials, usernames, passwords and account
numbers of users by using a fake web page with a valid link which opens when the
user is redirected to it after opening the legitimate site.
8. Cyber stalking
Cyber stalking is a new form of internet crime in our society when a person is
pursued or followed online. A cyber stalker doesn’t physically follow his victim;
he does it virtually by following his online activity to harvest information about the
stake and harass him or her and make threats using verbal intimidation. It’s an
invasion of one’s online privacy.
Cyber stalking uses the internet or any other electronic means and is different from
offline stalking, but is usually accompanied by it. Most victims of this crime are
women who are stalked by men and children who are stalked by adult predators
and pedophiles. Cyber stalkers thrive on inexperienced web users who are not well
aware of netiquette and the rules of internet safety. A cyber stalker may be a
stranger, but could just as easily be someone you know.

Cyber stalkers harass their victims via email, chat rooms, web sites, discussion
forums and open publishing web sites (e.g. blogs). The availability of free email /
web site space and the anonymity provided by chat rooms and forums has
contributed to the increase of cyber stalking incidents. Everyone has an online
 presence nowadays, and it’s really easy to do a Google search and get one’s name,
alias, contact number and address, contributing to the menace that is cyber
stalking. As the internet is increasingly becoming an integral part of our personal
and professional lives, stalkers can take advantage of the ease of communications
and the availability of personal information only a few mouse clicks away. In
addition, the anonymous and non-confrontational nature of internet
communications further tosses away any disincentives in the way of cyber stalking.
Cyber stalking is done in two primary ways:

 Internet Stalking: Here the stalker harasses the victim via the internet.
Unsolicited email is the most common way of threatening someone, and the stalker
may even send obscene content and viruses by email. However, viruses and
unsolicited telemarketing email alone do not constitute cyber stalking. But if email
is sent repeatedly in an attempt to intimidate the recipient, they may be considered
as stalking. Internet stalking is not limited to email; stalkers can more
comprehensively use the internet to harass the victims. Any other cyber-crime that
we’ve already read about, if done with an intention to threaten, harass, or slander
the victim may amount to cyber stalking.

 Computer Stalking: The more technologically advanced stalkers apply their

computer skills to assist them with the crime. They gain unauthorized control of
the victim’s computer by exploiting the working of the internet and the Windows
operating system. Though this is usually done by proficient and computer savvy
stalkers, instructions on how to accomplish this are easily available on the internet.

Cyber stalking has now spread its wings to social networking. With the increased
use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, your profile,
photos, and status updates are up for the world to see. Your online presence
provides enough information for you to become a potential victim of stalking
without even being aware of the risk. With the “check-ins”, the “life-events”, apps
which access your personal information and the need to put up just about
everything that you’re doing and where you’re doing it, one doesn’t really leave
anything for the stalkers to figure out for themselves. Social networking
technology provides a social and collaborative platform for internet users to
interact, express their thoughts and share almost everything about their lives.
Though it promotes socialization amongst people, along the way it contributes to
the rise of internet violations.
9. Data diddling
Data Diddling is unauthorized altering of data before or during entry into a
computer system, and then changing it back after processing is done. Using this
technique, the attacker may modify the expected output and is difficult to track. In
other words, the original information to be entered is changed, either by a person
typing in the data, a virus that’s programmed to change the data, the programmer
of the database or application, or anyone else involved in the process of creating,
recording, encoding, examining, checking, converting or transmitting data.
This is one of the simplest methods of committing a computer-related crime,
because even a computer amateur can do it. Despite this being an effortless task, it
can have detrimental effects. For example, a person responsible for accounting
may change data about themselves or a friend or relative showing that they’re paid
in full. By altering or failing to enter the information, they’re able to steal from the
enterprise. Other examples include forging or counterfeiting documents and
exchanging valid computer tapes or cards with prepared replacements. Electricity
boards in India have been victims of data diddling by computer criminals when
private parties were computerizing their systems.
10. Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud
Identity theft occurs when someone steals your identity and pretends to be you to
access resources such as credit cards, bank accounts and other benefits in your
name. The imposter may also use your identity to commit other crimes. “Credit
card fraud” is a wide ranging term for crimes involving identity theft where the
criminal uses your credit card to fund his transactions. Credit card fraud is identity
theft in its simplest form. The most common case of credit card fraud is your pre-
approved card falling into someone else’s hands.

Software piracy is the unauthorized use and distribution of computer software.

Software developers work hard to develop these programs and piracy curbs their
ability to generate enough revenue to sustain application development. This affects
the whole global economy as funds are relayed from other sectors which results in
less investment in marketing and research.
The following constitute software piracy:
 Cyber Laws of India
In Simple way we can say that cyber crime is unlawful acts wherein the computer
is either a tool or a target or both. Cyber crimes can involve criminal activities that
are traditional in nature, such as theft, fraud, forgery, defamation and mischief, all
of which are subject to the Indian Penal Code. The abuse of computers has also
given birth to a gamut of new age crimes that are addressed by the Information
Technology Act, 2000.

We can categorize Cyber crimes in two ways

 The Computer as a Target:-using a computer to attack other computers.
e.g. Hacking, Virus/Worm attacks, DOS attack etc.
 The computer as a weapon:-using a computer to commit real world crimes.
e.g. Cyber Terrorism, IPR violations, Credit card frauds, EFT frauds, Pornography
etc.
Cyber law (also referred to as cyber law) is a term used to describe the legal issues
related to use of communications technology, particularly "cyberspace", i.e. the
Internet. It is less a distinct fielding of law in the way that property or contracts are
as it is an intersection of many legal fields, including intellectual property, privacy,
freedom of expression, and jurisdiction. In essence, cyber law is an attempt to
integrate the challenges presented by human activity on the Internet with legacy
system of laws applicable to the physical world.

Cyber Law in INDIA

Why Cyberlaw in India?

When Internet was developed, the founding fathers of Internet hardly had any
inclination that Internet could transform itself into an all pervading revolution
which could be misused for criminal activities and which required regulation.
Today, there are many disturbing things happening in cyberspace. Due to the
anonymous nature of the Internet, it is possible to engage into a variety of criminal
activities with impunity and people with intelligence, have been grossly misusing
this aspect of the Internet to perpetuate criminal activities in cyberspace. Hence the
need for Cyberlaws in India.
 What is the importance of Cyber law ?
Cyberlaw is important because it touches almost all aspects of transactions and
activities on and concerning the Internet, the World Wide Web and Cyberspace.
Initially it may seem that Cyberlaws is a very technical field and that it does not
have any bearing to most activities in Cyberspace. But the actual truth is that
nothing could be further than the truth. Whether we realize it or not, every action
and every reaction in Cyberspace has some legal and Cyber legal perspectives.

Does Cyberlaw concern me ?

Yes, Cyberlaw does concern you. As the nature of Internet is changing and this
new medium is being seen as the ultimate medium ever evolved in human history,
every activity of yours in Cyberspace can and will have a Cyber legal perspective.
From the time you register your Domain Name, to the time you set up your web
site, to the time you promote your website, to the time when you send and receive
emails, to the time you conduct electronic commerce transactions on the said site,
at every point of time, there are various Cyberlaw issues involved. You may not be
bothered about these issues today because you may feel that they are very distant
from you and that they do not have an impact on your Cyber activities. But sooner
or later, you will have to tighten your belts and take note of Cyberlaw for your own
benefit.

Advantages of Cyber Laws

The IT Act 2000 attempts to change outdated laws and provides ways to deal with
cyber crimes. We need such laws so that people can perform purchase transactions
over the Net through credit cards without fear of misuse. The Act offers the much-
needed legal framework so that information is not denied legal effect, validity or
enforceability, solely on the ground that it is in the form of electronic records.
In view of the growth in transactions and communications carried out through
electronic records, the Act seeks to empower government departments to accept
filing, creating and retention of official documents in the digital format. The Act
has also proposed a legal framework for the authentication and origin of electronic
records / communications through digital signature.
 From the perspective of e-commerce in India, the IT Act 2000 and its provisions
contain many positive aspects. Firstly, the implications of these provisions for the
e-businesses would be that email would now be a valid and legal form of
communication in our country that can be duly produced and approved in a court
of law.
 Companies shall now be able to carry out electronic commerce using the legal
infrastructure provided by the Act.
 Digital signatures have been given legal validity and sanction in the Act.
 The Act throws open the doors for the entry of corporate companies in the business
of being Certifying Authorities for issuing Digital Signatures Certificates.
 The Act now allows Government to issue notification on the web thus heralding e-
governance.
 The Act enables the companies to file any form, application or any other document
with any office, authority, body or agency owned or controlled by the appropriate
Government in electronic form by means of such electronic form as may be
prescribed by the appropriate Government.
 The IT Act also addresses the important issues of security, which are so critical to
the success of electronic transactions. The Act has given a legal definition to the
concept of secure digital signatures that would be required to have been passed
through a system of a security procedure, as stipulated by the Government at a later
date.
 Under the IT Act, 2000, it shall now be possible for corporate to have a statutory
remedy in case if anyone breaks into their computer systems or network and causes
damages or copies data. The remedy provided by the Act is in the form of
monetary damages, not exceeding Rs. 1 crore.
 ACCESS POINT NAME
An Access Point Name (APN) is the name of a gateway between
a GSM, GPRS, 3G or 4G mobile network and another computer network,
frequently the public Internet.
A mobile device making a data connection must be configured with an APN to
present to the carrier. The carrier will then examine this identifier to determine
what type of network connection should be created, for example: which IP
addresses should be assigned to the wireless device, which security methods
should be used, and how or if, it should be connected to some private customer
network.
More specifically, the APN identifies the packet data network (PDN) that a mobile
data user wants to communicate with. In addition to identifying a PDN, an APN
may also be used to define the type of service, (e.g. connection to Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) server, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)) that
is provided by the PDN. APN is used in 3GPPdata access networks, e.g. General
Packet Radio Service (GPRS), evolved packet core (EPC).

Structure of an APN
A structured APN consists of two parts as shown in the accompanying figure.

 Network Identifier: Defines the external network to which the Gateway GPRS
Support Node (GGSN) is connected. Optionally, it may also include the service
requested by the user. This part of the APN is mandatory
 Operator Identifier: Defines the specific operator's packet domain network in
which the GGSN is located. This part of the APN is optional. The MCC is
the mobile country code and the MNC is the mobile network code which
together uniquely identify a mobile network operator.

Examples of APN are:

 internet.t-mobile
 internet.mnc012.mcc345.gprs
 rcomnet.mnc015.mcc405.gprs
 internet (Note: This APN example does not contain an operator)
 NXTGENPHONE (Note: Does not contain an operator, however in practice it
is AT&T Mobility's LTE APN)
 VZWINTERNET (Note: No operator, but the APN name clearly
identifies Verizon Wireless)
 mobitel (Note: APN name clearly identifies operator Mobitel)

Management information system

A management information system (MIS) is an information system used
for decision-making, and for the coordination, control, analysis, and visualization
of information in an organization.
The study of management information systems examines people, processes and
technology in an organizational context.
In a corporate setting, the ultimate goal of the use of a management information
system is to increase the value and profits of the business.

Types
The following are types of information systems used to create reports, extract data,
and assist in the decision making processes of middle and operational level
managers.

 Decision support systems (DSS) are computer program applications used by

middle and higher management to compile information from a wide range of
sources to support problem solving and decision making. A DSS is used mostly
for semi-structured and unstructured decision problems.

 Executive information systems (EIS) is a reporting tool that provides quick

access to summarized reports coming from all company levels and departments
such as accounting, human resources and operations.

 Marketing information systems are management Information Systems designed

specifically for managing the marketing aspects of the business.
 Accounting information systems are focused accounting functions.

 Human resource management systems are used for personnel aspects.

 Office automation systems (OAS) support communication and productivity in

the enterprise by automating workflow and eliminating bottlenecks. OAS may
be implemented at any and all levels of management.

 School Information Management Systems (SIMS) cover school administration,

often including teaching and learning materials.

 Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software facilitates the flow of information

between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and
manage the connections to outside stakeholders.

 Local Databases, can be small, simplified tools for managers and are
considered to be a primal or base level version of a MIS.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The following are some of the benefits that can be attained using MIS:

 Improve an organization's operational efficiency, add value to existing

products, engender innovation and new product development, and help
managers make better decisions.
 Companies are able to identify their strengths and weaknesses due to the
presence of revenue reports, employees' performance record etc. Identifying
these aspects can help a company improve its business processes and
operations.
 Giving an overall picture of the company.
 Acting as a communication and planning tool.
 The availability of customer data and feedback can help the company to align
its business processes according to the needs of its customers. The effective
management of customer data can help the company to perform direct
marketing and promotion activities.
 MIS can help a company gain a competitive advantage.
 MIS reports can help with decision-making as well as reduce downtime for
actionable items.
MIS system advantages heavily outweigh the disadvantages:
 Retrieval and dissemination is depended on technology hardware and software.
 Potential for inaccurate information.

KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS
A knowledge-based system (KBS) is a computer program that reasons and uses
a knowledge base to solve complex problems. The term is broad and refers to
many different kinds of systems. The one common theme that unites all knowledge
based systems is an attempt to represent knowledge explicitly and a reasoning
system that allows it to derive new knowledge. Thus, a knowledge-based system
has two distinguishing features: a knowledge base and an inference engine.
The first part, the knowledge base, represents facts about the world, often in some
form of subsumption ontology, rather than implicitly, embedded in procedural
code, the way a conventional computer program does. Other common approaches
in addition to subsumption ontology include frames, conceptual graphs, and logical
assertions.
The second part, the inference engine, allows new knowledge to be inferred. Most
commonly, it can take the form of IF-THEN rules coupled with forward or
backward chaining approaches. Other approaches include the use of automated
theorem proves, logic programming, blackboard systems, and term rewriting
systems such as CHR (Constraint Handling Rules). These more formal approaches
are covered in detail in the Wikipedia article on knowledge representation and
reasoning.
The first knowledge-based systems were rule based expert systems. One of the
most famous was Mycin, a program for medical diagnosis. These early expert
systems represented facts about the world as simple assertions in a flat database
and used rules to reason about and as a result add to these assertions. Representing
knowledge explicitly via rules had several advantages:

1. Acquisition and maintenance. Using rules meant that domain experts could
often define and maintain the rules themselves rather than via a
programmer.
2. Explanation. Representing knowledge explicitly allowed systems to reason
about how they came to a conclusion and use this information to explain
results to users. For example, to follow the chain of inferences those led to a
diagnosis and use these facts to explain the diagnosis.
3. Reasoning. Decoupling the knowledge from the processing of that
knowledge enabled general purpose inference engines to be developed.
These systems could develop conclusions that followed from a data set that
the initial developers may not have even been aware of.
4. In addition to expert systems, other applications of knowledge-based
systems include real-time process control, intelligent tutoring systems, and
problem-solvers for specific domains such as protein structure analysis,
construction-site layout, and computer system fault diagnosis.
5. As knowledge-based systems became more complex the techniques used to
represent the knowledge base became more sophisticated and included logic,
term-rewriting systems, conceptual graphs, and frames. Consider frames as
an example. Rather than representing facts as assertions about data, the
knowledge-base has become more structured. Frames can be thought of
representing world knowledge using analogous techniques to object-oriented
programming, specifically the use of hierarchies of classes and subclasses,
relations between classes, and behavior of objects. As the knowledge base
became more structured reasoning could occur both by independent rules,
logical inference, and by interactions within the knowledge base itself. For
example, procedures stored as demons on objects could fire and could
replicate the chaining behavior of rules.
 WHY INFORMATION SYSTEMS ARE SO
IMPORTANT TO YOUR BUSINESSES

Organized Data
Excellent organization is crucial for any business which is trying to be successful.
With a great information system, your company will be well organized, come up
with quick solutions and make faster decisions under any circumstance. The
employees will be able to manage all their information and improve the execution
of their business processes. Information will be stored in a database consisting of
data your employees have registered for the firm.
Quality information systems are featured with an MIS (Management Information
System) which is designed to organize the database and thereby improve the
productivity of your company. The MIS can provide you with past, present and
prediction information by using software that relies on every necessary resource in
the system. Without outstanding data organization, your company’s data is useless
and can only cause additional problems.

Perspective on Your Business Future

Any company manager who’s aiming to improve has to establish a broader
perspective with the help of a great MIS. Therefore, an MIS can track the complete
organization within your company and enable an easier method for analyzing
independent processes. These processes consist of organized work activities,
information and knowledge to produce valuable products or services. Your
company can barely compete with other successful companies without a well-
designed and coordinated information system.
By integrating an information system, you are following the latest business trends.
It’s a great way to speed up the progress of your company. You will no longer
spend a lot of time and money on unnecessary activities – you’ll put your focus on
the main goal ahead.

Information Storage
Information systems are convenient when it comes to storing data you’ll need in a
few years’ time. For example, successful newspapers keep their photos safely
stored in a data archive. The data archive can be opened and used later on to find
the photos, if needs be.
Saving your data manually with registers and hard-copy formats will cost you lots
of time. Searching for specific data can also be a very time-consuming process this
way. A quality information system groups your important data by date and time,
making the process of finding it really convenient. Every valuable bit of
information is stored in a sophisticated and comprehensive database which is at
your disposal 24 hours a day.

Avoiding Crisis
Some time ago, companies weren’t able to analyze the share market and their
organization at the highest level, which resulted in a devastating business crisis.
Using a high-quality information system, your company can analyze stocks and see
their past performance in order to predict a potential crisis. The MIS keeps track of
margins and profits to have every data necessary for analyzing and averting a
crisis.
Information systems are well-established tools which are capable of tracking the
moving trajectory of your organization and alerting you of eventual crisis
possibilities in the future. There is no other way of predicting and stopping a
business crisis long before it takes place other than following the MIS reports and
acting instantly. Hence, even though installing a new information system can be a
bit of a “big investment”, the level of protection you’ll provide for your company
makes it a worthy type of investment.

Easier Decision Making

A company’s decision-making process can take a lot of time and energy without an
information system. It is well known that success is built on strategic plans and
quality decisions made by the management of the organization. Your management
team can use the information system to develop strategic plans and make the best
choices when it comes to the next business steps of the company.
By evaluating information from each company’s source, information systems are
able to come up with the best conclusions regarding the general economy, and
suggest which steps you should take. Otherwise, your business won’t reach its full
potential and you’ll lose a lot of energy in making decisions that aren’t necessarily
great for your organization.
Analyzing and Planning
The MIS plays an important role in the planning process since it lets you manage
all data and think of an easier way to plan your business goals. Good planning is
impossible without information (and an outstanding management information
system). Thanks to the competitor analysis feature of the MIS, you can improve the
organizational capabilities of your company and compete with your rivals using
unique analytical methods.
But any complex system needs a team of great IT professionals that can maintain
it. A skilled IT team will keep the system steady and strong regardless of the
process your company is focused on while achieving its goals.

Data Control
Having complete control over the company’s information is essential when it
comes to the safety and stability of the information system. Therefore, the MIS has
the ability to control your data and provide the information you need for various
processes instantaneously. The MIS, as part of the information system, is aware of
the data circulating within the company and helps by giving you a sense of control
over said data.
 SOFTWARE TYPES
Software can be categorized according to what it is designed to accomplish. There
are two main types of software: systems software and application software.

Systems Software
Systems software includes the programs that are dedicated to managing the
computer itself, such as the operating system, file management utilities, and disk
operating system (or DOS). The operating system manages the computer hardware
resources in addition to applications and data. Without systems software installed
in our computers we would have to type the instructions for everything we wanted
the computer to do!

Applications Software
Application software, or simply applications, are often called productivity
programs or end-user programs because they enable the user to complete tasks,
such as creating documents, spreadsheets, databases and publications, doing online
research, sending email, designing graphics, running businesses, and even playing
games! Application software is specific to the task it is designed for and can be as
simple as a calculator application or as complex as a word processing application.
When you begin creating a document, the word processing software has already set
the margins, font style and size, and the line spacing for you. But you can change
these settings, and you have many more formatting options available. For example,
the word processor application makes it easy to add color, headings, and pictures
or delete, copy, move, and change the document's appearance to suit your needs.
Microsoft Word is a popular word-processing application that is included in
the software suite of applications called Microsoft Office. A software suite is a
group of software applications with related functionality. For example, office
software suites might include word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation,
and email applications. Graphics suites such as Adobe Creative suite include
applications for editing image.